In the tradition of Ron Popeil (Ronco products) and Billy Mays (“Hi, Billy Mays here for…”) there is a recent addition to television pitchmen. This recent addition is Vince Offer.
Vince got his start as a pitchman, just like Popeil and Mays, selling products from a booth before live audiences. What he brought though, is a new savvy that lets the viewer know they are in on what he is doing and it seems to work well. This is true, probably, because it then disarms people from dismissing the product out of hand.
Vince Offer has hit products in the ShamWow and the Slap Chop. The ShamWow spurred the success of the Slap Chop in a number of ways. First, the ShamWow introduced the audience Offer’s style of a television commercial. That is to say with a wink he offers a slight ridiculousness to his pitch. Secondly, after the ShamWow’s success, like so many other celebrity endorsers, he is an established personality and able to pitch new products. Finally, he had the financial means to fully own and fund a second product.
This last part is what makes Vince Offer such an interesting business personality. While on screen all one would see is a pitchman, underlying is a business cunning. Sometime back Vince made a movie called The Underground Comedy Movie. It was a failure but Vince was able to turn it in a form of financial success as he sold the DVD via infomercial. These funds were able to fund the ShamWow venture.
But even the ShamWow is interesting because these shammy, synthetic towels have been around awhile. Billy Mays even had his version. But what Vince did was not only offer it with his style of marketing but also gave it his own brand. He did this also with the Slap Chop (marketing and branding) which is the Chop-O-Matic that Ron Popeil was pitching on television back in the 1950′s.
This just goes to show that the latest pitchman on the scene is not only an enjoyable personality like Mays, but also a savvy businessman like Popeil.
By: Darryl Noble
About the Author:
One can read about the use for a ShamWow by visiting the link. But if one is skeptical, there is information available. Visit to find the answer to the question do ShamWows work?
